I have tried Stevia in the individual packets for beverage sweetners but have not baked with it..have a few questions and hope that someone can answer them...my basic knowldge on Stevia is this ," the Stevia leaf has been known by the indigenous Indians in the forests of Paraguay as the "honey" leaf.... Stevia has also been incorporated into many Indian traditional healing and dietary practices.... Stevia comes from plantations maintained by the Guarani Indians in Paraguay, who cultivate some of the best tasting whole leaf Stevia available. .. The Stevia leaf contains a compound, stevioside, which is two hundred or more times sweeter than sugar. It is used throughout the world, particularly in Japan, as a noncaloric sweetener. Stevia has virtually no calories. It dissolves easily in water and mixes well with all other sweeteners... " how does liquid Stevia compare with liquid Splenda in regards to carbs and has anyone used this product to bake with instead of granular Splenda and if so what proportions does one use anyone know of any informative websites to answer these questions? ....

Thanks.

Bonnie

Hi Bonnie,

Stevia is so concentrated that it's hard to tell the equivelancy, it's like 1 Tsp (or 10 drops) for a cup of Splenda, but each manufacturer may extract differently to dilute it. I prefer liquid as I can measure the drops. Not sure about the carb count, but must be very low.

I've baked with it and love it. But many can't get used to it's taste.

Here are a few stevia links:

http://www.eporkchop.com/blubber/sweet.htm

http://www.holisticmed.com/sweet/

Thanks so much Wa'il am off to do some investigating

Just one more question...is there a particular brand that is purer than another...



Bonnie

I wouldn't worry about purity, not much need to be added to stevia, and you always want to dilute it, to make it easier to measure.

I think the brand "NOW" is very popular, they have both powdered and liqudi forms. The powder is very concentrated, and some use the powder to make their own liquid stevia, combining 1/4 teaspoon with 2 Tbs water to fill a small bottle, it's very tricky to dilute, and must be refrigirated and will stay good for a couple of weeks. The first link, "Paul on sweetners" explains how to do this. I've been using a tiny bottle for a year, and it's half full.

Wa'il

Bonnie, to add to Wa'il's excellent info:
- Make sure you get the white 'stevia extract' powder, not the powdered green (dried whole) leaf;
- Now brand and Stevina brand (white extract) are both available out here on this coast, usually in the HFS;
- my recipe for making the liquid 'working solution', as provided by the Now folks (I think) is 1 tsp white powder to 3 tbsp filtered water, which I also keep in a 2 fl oz dropper or squeeze bottle.

1 tsp of this mixture is roughly equivalent to 1 cup of sugar in sweetness (so 1/3 tsp is supposed to be about that sweet too) BUT... since the strength of the white powder can vary quite a bit, as can the aftertaste (faintly licorice). If you use too much stevia, the aftertaste gets really strong. Always best to err on the side of caution and start with small measures.

The premixed liquid stevia is 0-calorie as long as no glycerine is used as the base (water is usually the base). The packets are most often 'fillered' with maltodextrin, just like the AS, so the packets have carbs. If the 'filler' is FOS, then it's about 85% soluble fiber filler so very low carb.

Hope this helps?

Thanks for all the helpful info Judi...exactly what I was looking for....


Bonnie

Well, I ordered some from the links I gave in post 66 of this thread. I have to say that I will not be using anthing but stevia now. I still don't know if the prices are great here[$20.00/4.0oz bottle](1200servings). But this product is not bitter at all. Unlike the first stevia brand I bought.
[stevita brand]

Ya know what's good......Stevia clear in your water.
No aftertaste at all....taste like fruit20.

Anyone notice an aftertaste if used in hot stuff like
coffee?
I do....unless I put it in the coffee before I heat it up.

I use the liquid Stevia in unsweetened kool-aid and its great, 1 tsp = 1 cup of sugar and dont use more as it is very sweet and too much will leave an aftertaste.

The kool-aid can then be used as a drink, for ice pops or as a mixer.

Hi All,

I have tried Stevia in my decaff coffee (the liquid version) and I found it so awful tasting that I just couldn't drink it. I just bought the splenda packages so I will try that next. I hope that tastes better. Otherwise I have just been drinking my coffee with alot of cream and no sugar. I have been caffeine free since Sept. 22/03 when I started Atkins and I feel great.

88.....

I bought some Stevia Plus packets and find that I can only use about 1/3 of a packet in a 37-oz mug of coffee, especially when I add the DaVinci syrups, which are Splenda sweetened. I also have my cream, of course, but I find the Stevia Plus works well for me.

Karen
In Montana

I don't use DaVinci's or Torani's syrups. I just can't stand the Splenda aftertaste.

But I've recently found that Sweet Leaf has put out flavored stevia extracts. Stevia is probably the only sugar substitute that I can handle. So this makes me happy. They currently have 12 flavors available.

http://www.sweetleaf.com/category.p...e=steviaflavors

So far I've tried out the Vanilla Creme (used some to make creme soda with REAL cream), dark chocolate, chocolate raspberry and valencia orange. They add a very mild taste to the water (I add maybe 10 drops for a liter of water) with a hint of sweetness. This is a Good Thing (TM).

I agree that the flavored stevia drops are really tasty for most things. I use agave syrup in my coffee, though, it is so mild tasting and low glycaemic and never changes the flavour of the coffee..